I met up with an old friend in Portugal in mid September 2025 for some walking and talking girlfriend time as we explored the street of lively Lisbon, caught the train to Cascais for cliff top strolls then the train down to Lagos for beaches, bars and yep, more walks! Here are the highlights.

Love a little Lisboa

We stayed on the outskirts of Lisbon in a cute guesthouse called Chaelt d’Avilla – about 4 train stops from the old town, nearest metro Sao Sebastio. It was very quiet (except for Saturday night when everyone congregates in the parks and streets) and the downfall was that there are few bars or restaurants nearby but there are some beautiful walks around the Parque Eduardo VII – which also has a Miradour, and the lovely Fonte Luminosa,  an old marble bathhouse/fountain and the striking  Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM) where we saw some good free art exhibitions.

We thought the best way to get to know the old town of Lisbon was on a walking tour – we met at “Praça Luís de Camões” the central square near the river named aftr Portugals most famous poet. This square has all the features found around Lisbon – bornze statues, patterned pavements, glossy wall tiles, ornate buildings wrapped in wrought iron balconies.  Our splendidly animated guide marched us all over the historical neighbourhoods of Bairro Alto, Chiado, Baixa (Downtown) and Alfama and learnt about the fairly horrific Roman and Barbarian Invasions, the role the Portuguese played in the Age of Discovery, using their navigation skills to travel farther than any others at the time,  we heard about the Salazar dictatorship and how a simple flower became the symbol of the Carnation Revolution that helped overthrow the dictatorship of Estado Novo regime in 1974.  We marvelled at the Santa Justa Elevator – which was shut after the Ascensor da Glória derailment a few weeks earlier that killed and injured many.  And we explored the oldest continuously operating bookstore in the world – The Bertrand and gazed at leather bound books nestled in polished wood alcoves. There was also tales from the Portuguese Inquisition and the Great Earthquake of 1755 and how Portugal’s Moorish Legacy left the streets of Lisbon virtually littered with colourful tiles and pavements. Of course we sampled the ubiquitous Pastel de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tart) from Fabrica da Nata and I have to say, I am not usually a fan, but these ones, sprinkled with cinnamon were delicious!

After our 4 hour history walking tour we climbed up to the Miradouro da Graça behind the castle to enjoy an Aperol Spritz as the sun went down and we discussed what we’d learned about Lisbon. A few things struck me as fascinating – that the town was occupied for centuries by the Romans then Arabs with signs of their culture still everywhere in the aquaducts and all the districts starting with Al…like Alfama . That Portuguese were incredible navigators and colonised a huge part of the world due to their cruel instigation and domination of the slave trade. And that culinary wise they introduced Tempura to the Japanese and are responsible for sour cherry cough syrup – now a liqueur and the famous custard tarts!

Colourful Cascais

After Lisbon, we took a train 40 mins to the seaside town of Cascais for three nights. This busy little seaside town reminded me of a city version of Lagos as it is linked by lots of seaside towns all the way from Lisbon to Cascais.

 We lucked out by arriving on the final night of the Caiscais Lumina festival where they light up the town’s old forts, gardens and passageways. We only got to see half of it as despite asking at the super unhelpful Tourist Information centre (where you had to pay for a map) they failed to tell us anything about the festival which was mostly on the outskirts of town!

We enjoyed walking both ways from the centre of Cascais. One day we did the fab 9 km ( each way) coastal walk to Guincho – this walk is called Litoral Guincho and parts of it is the Caminho Atlantico – a very exposed ocean walk past a few blowholes (  the most famous is  Boca do Inferno, “Mouth of Hell ‘ which was quiet when I passed but apparently this natural chasm spurts forth fume from the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean in certain conditions). Be warned there are no water stops or shelter on this exposed walk and you share the path with cyclists. Guincho beach at the end is a lovely long, wide ocean beach – but its unpatrolled and pretty rough so I chose to admire it from afar!

We also walked the 3 km each way from Cascais along the Passeio Martimo to Estoril which goes past some nice gardens, the big Casino and finishes up at crashing surf meets city walls ‘beaches’.

The town of Cascais is wall to wall restaurants that come alive at night and whilst all types of cuisine are on offer it is the seafood restaurants that dominate with their prawns, mussels and whole grilled fish serviced everywhere.

Lovely Lagos

We hopped on a train from Caiscais via Lisbon down to Lagos to stay on the Marina side of town for a change (I stayed in Lagos downtown a year ago and found it a tad hectic!). The Marina gives access to the long stretch of Maria Praiocean beach with it’s 3km boardwalk winding through the dunes and with boardwalks down to the beach for swims along the beautiful Meia Praia beach. The sea was pretty choppy for swimming in late September and there were some rather large jellies on the shore so it was just a quick dip for me! There’s also little beach bars dotted along the boardwalk and we enjoyed the local cocktail – Caipirinha at sunset one night. 

We enjoyed exploring Lagos by sea and took a traditional Portuguese sailing boat for a 2 hour trip out to Pointe Piedeade and transferred to a small motor boat to explore the caves. There was a big swell and we were very impressed with the boat drivers skills in getting us in and out of the narrow caves! We enjoyed a swim off the boat in the rolling ocean too.  After seeing Point Piedade from the sea we hiked to it overland from Lagos taking the 5 km (one way) boardwalk along the cliff tops past Porto de Mos beach and many pretty coves.. This walk is actually part of the Fishermen’s Trail (Trilho dos Pescadores,in Portuguese), an extraordinary 75 km long coastal path that ends in Lagos. There’s very little shade on this walk but lots of little beaches for swims and a few restaurants and cafes for water.

The highlight of my trip to Lagos this time ( I was there May ‘24 with Jamie) was my little lunch at the best Empenada cafe ever! Empanada & Co. Tucked just outside the old city walls this tiny pace puts Argentina’s claim to the best empanadas to the test. All handmade on the premises the empanadas melt in your mouth and have the most delicious fillings!

Curious observations of Portugal

A couple of interesting observations as we trained around Portugals coast and towns were:

There are no public toilets on or near the beaches

Most toilet door locks are broken

Most door handles on doors are loose or broken

There’s abandoned concrète buildings everywhere – on ocean rock promontories, in fields, beaches & towns

People running little beach bars or kiosks are very kind – we were given free bottles of water twice when we had no cash

The countryside is very dry post summer but still a lot of olive trees thriving

Tourist towns like Caiscais and Lagos don’t really present themselves too well with broken pavements, holes in roads, dishevelled paths to beaches and lots of construction.

Portugal is trying to combat climate change with some really good dune and reef restoration projects, growing endemic crops, fixing drainage and waterways and protecting beaches.

Fish always comes whole

Orange juice comes squeezed to order

Portuguese tarts are ubiquitous